1. freshmen panicked. Brandon Knight played absolutely terrible. way too fast, made way too many mistakes, took bad shots etc

2. As I've stated for years, calipari is a great recruiter, not a very good X's and O's guy. U can't shoot a 25ft three pointer out of a timeout. cal has to have a better play in the book for that situation. U gotta attack the rim. kick out for a 3 or try and draw the foul or make the layup/floater.

It wasn't great basketball, at times, last night (and I INSIST that had something to do with the venue, as an aside....look at the way all 3 games were played), but it was the best outcome I could hope for.

GO UCONN!! (And I NEED one of those No. 1 hats)

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It wasn't great basketball, at times, last night (and I INSIST that had something to do with the venue, as an aside....look at the way all 3 games were played), but it was the best outcome I could hope for.

GO UCONN!! (And I NEED one of those No. 1 hats)

Yeah that game was far from pretty, and you may be onto something about the venue. It's always tougher shooting in domes, and none of the 3 games featured good shooting. Although, UConn's and Butler's D may have had more to do with it. I mean, Butler was missing point blank shots. That has to have more to do with UConn's length, than difficulty shooting in a dome.

Anyhow, it may have been the ugliest Championship game in history, but I LOVED IT! What an improbable run to finish off the season. Undefeated outside of the Big East. Pretty impressive. I thought this team was a few years away, but they did the unthinkable and won it all THIS year. Thanks in large part to Kemba Walker, who will be exiting stage right to the NBA (if there's even an NBA season next year). And the way Jeremy Lamb played down the stretch, he could be leaving after his sophomore year next season.

What a great time to be a UConn fan though. 4 final 4's and 3 championships in the last 12 years. Not too shabby. I don't know if they're quite at the level of all time elite college basketball programs yet, but they're certainly there in the modern (Calhoun) era.

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1. freshmen panicked. Brandon Knight played absolutely terrible. way too fast, made way too many mistakes, took bad shots etc

2. As I've stated for years, calipari is a great recruiter, not a very good X's and O's guy. U can't shoot a 25ft three pointer out of a timeout. cal has to have a better play in the book for that situation. U gotta attack the rim. kick out for a 3 or try and draw the foul or make the layup/floater.

Unfortunately, you will always have that problem with Cal as coach out there. His one-and-done freshmen are capable of playing great, but just like last year, they ran into a team that wasn't intimidated and took it to them hard. The freshmen got rattled and fell apart. Harrelson is a senior and didn't have a clue what to do with UConn's D draped all over him. As you said, Calipari isn't a good coach. Look at his record at Memphis before he met World Wide Wes and got the hook up on the big time recruits. He struggled to keep them out of the NIT and rarely got out of the 2nd round of the NCAA. And this was in C-USA which was always a sub-par league even before the Big East expansion.

Any coach would have a great chance to succeed if they could bring in a flood of top 10 recruits every year. Talent wins games......most of the time. But, at some point, talent is going to meet hard work and determination and will need some good coaching to make the necessary adjustments. This is what UK's super teams are lacking and will likely always lack with Cal is the coach. The man is bad news. I know UK had a drug-like need to get back to relevancy, but they should've emptied the bank on a proven winner instead of a hype man. "We will be UNNNNNNN-BEATABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Seriously!!?? With that kind of jaw-jackin' you better bring home a title every single year.

Congrats to UConn on a magical run to the championship. They earned this title. Their fans' pride level for this team should be off the page.

Yeah, this years UConn team was a breath of fresh air. They were easy to root for, easy to love. You could see the hard work and determination they put into this season. Last years team was SO hard to like, it seemed as if Kemba was the only one going all out. And that's why last years team underachieved and failed to make the tournament. This years team is the least talented of their 3 championship teams and probably not even in the top 5 UConn teams of all time. But they were one of the hardest working teams ever, led by Kemba of course. The freshmen were great and the future is bright, but Kemba will be impossible to replace.

And Axl4Prez, I'm happy to report I wasn't one of the 27 arrested. And thank you for not giving your pick for the game.

« Last Edit: April 05, 2011, 09:04:17 PM by faldor »

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Yeah that game was far from pretty, and you may be onto something about the venue. It's always tougher shooting in domes, and none of the 3 games featured good shooting. Although, UConn's and Butler's D may have had more to do with it. I mean, Butler was missing point blank shots. That has to have more to do with UConn's length, than difficulty shooting in a dome.

Defense was definitely part of it. Butler couldn't get a good shot inside the paint, for sure. But I think both the dome AND the rims (which, if you watch the bounces, were REALLY tight and unforgiving) played a part, too....especially on jumpers. The balls were bouncing like Superballs when they they hit the rims. If it wasn't all net....chances of getting it to bounce in were slim.

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Anyhow, it may have been the ugliest Championship game in history, but I LOVED IT! What an improbable run to finish off the season. Undefeated outside of the Big East. Pretty impressive. I thought this team was a few years away, but they did the unthinkable and won it all THIS year. Thanks in large part to Kemba Walker, who will be exiting stage right to the NBA (if there's even an NBA season next year). And the way Jeremy Lamb played down the stretch, he could be leaving after his sophomore year next season.

If Walker stays, he's not as smart as that little piece of paper he's going to get in a few months says he is (ie: his degree...in THREE years). There's nothing left for him to do at UCONN. Heck, they put his number in the rafters, yesterday, at Gampel. Go and take the money.

Lamb....we'll see. I suspect you're right, but it will be a different story next year when he's not getting the benefit of everyone known to man doubling up Walker. They're going to need to run a lot more ball screens, and a lot less drive and kickouts, for him next year. We'll see if he can become Ray Allen.

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What a great time to be a UConn fan though. 4 final 4's and 3 championships in the last 12 years. Not too shabby. I don't know if they're quite at the level of all time elite college basketball programs yet, but they're certainly there in the modern (Calhoun) era.

NOBODY (amongst the coaches who have won 3 or more titles) has take an program from, basically, nothing to what Calhoun has built. NOBODY. You look at the other guys on "the list" in Wooden, Coach K, Knight and Rupp...they all (at least) inherited established programs who had fallen on tough times but still had huge name recognition.

Calhoun had to convince these kids to come to an unknown school in the cow pastures of CT, to a school who had zero sports acumen (or real history), and get them to buy into his system.

Un-freaking-real.

« Last Edit: April 06, 2011, 08:46:35 AM by pilferk »

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Pilferk, where do you rank this UConn team in terms of all time Husky teams? Do they crack the top 5? I'd say 2004 with Gordon, Okafor was the best. Then the 1999 team with Rip Hamilton and Khalid El-Amin. The 1995 or 1996 teams led by Ray Allen that lost in the sweet 16 and elite 8 respectively were pretty darn good. The 1994 team led by Donyell Marshall that lost to Florida IN Florida in the sweet 16 when Donyell missed 2 FT's down the stretch deserves some consideration.

You could certainly argue though, as good as those Marshall and Allen teams were, they never won. This group got it done, so maybe they deserve the #3 ranking after all.

Forgot to mention the 2006 team that was the consensus #1 with an All NBA starting 5 that lost to George Mason in the elite 8.

« Last Edit: April 06, 2011, 10:48:46 AM by faldor »

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Pilferk, where do you rank this UConn team in terms of all time Husky teams? Do they crack the top 5? I'd say 2004 with Gordon, Okafor was the best. Then the 1999 team with Rip Hamilton and Khalid El-Amin. The 1995 or 1996 teams led by Ray Allen that lost in the sweet 16 and elite 8 respectively were pretty darn good. The 1994 team led by Donyell Marshall that lost to Florida IN Florida in the sweet 16 when Donyell missed 2 FT's down the stretch deserves some consideration.

You could certainly argue though, as good as those Marshall and Allen teams were, they never won. This group got it done, so maybe they deserve the #3 ranking after all.

Forgot to mention the 2006 team that was the consensus #1 with an All NBA starting 5 that lost to George Mason in the elite 8.

They wouldn't crack my top 5...but they'd probably make the top 10. I, too, think the best team was the 2004 team with Gordon and Okafor. Second would be the 2006 team that lost to George Mason. Third would be the 1999 team. Fourth would be the 95/96 team (yes, I'm cheating and lumping them all together). Fifth would be the 1994 team.

This team would trump all of them in terms of heart. In fact, I think the only team that might "out heart" them would be the 1990 team (Scott Burrell, Tate George, Nadav Henefeld, Chris Smith)....and it would be close. The Dream Season, back in '90, was really the official "launching pad" of the current Husky program. Sure, the Cliff Robinson NIT championship team was part of it...but the Dream Season was the Husky coming out party.

And I'd rank this team right up there with them. On top of that, I suspect THIS championship might be remembered longer, and taste a bit sweeter, simply because it was so out of left field. NOBODY expected this. In 1999, there were a LOT of "insiders" who warned that CT was dangerous and could win the title (even if a lot of them discounted their ability to beat Duke until El Amin exclaimed "We shocked the world"). In 2004...everyone EXPECTED the Huskies to win the title. In 2011....I defy you to find one person (who knew anything about college basketball) who thought, at the beginning of the season, that the Huskies would be cutting down the nets in Texas.....just like nobody picked the 1990 Huskies to do anything of note.

If February (and the Big East) hadn't been so unkind to the Champs...I'd call this "Dream Season II". Instead, I'll just call it "Championship Season III". I can live with that.

« Last Edit: April 06, 2011, 11:39:04 AM by pilferk »

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Im gonna be a sore loser for a minute and say Uconn shouldn't even have been allowed in the tournament with the violations Calhoun committed.

Maybe hypocritical seeing as we have Calipari BUT...........

Have you actually looked at the violations (and not just the mentions the media has been hyping the past couple days)? HIS involvement with the Miles kid is debatable at best.

Take a peek.

Granted, the buck has to stop somewhere...and he's the head of the program. But banning the Huskies from tournament play is NOT what you would have wanted to happen. Because the precedent it would have set would have killed the sport.

These were "major" violations like I've been in a "major" motion picture. Thus why you saw Calhoun only suspended for 3 games (and even that was harsh in comparison to others who have done the same thing).

The fact is...you don't REALLY want to hold any teams to that kind of standard. Because with the history of the NCAA's witch hunts, you know your school (and I don't, specifically, mean YOU D..."your" in general) is just as likely to be next as any.

As an aside....read up on some of the shenanigans Wooden and Rupp were involved in during their coaching years...specifically in relation to how they handled booster/athlete interactions. It's amusing (and, IMHO, irrelevant to their greatness).

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Pat Summitt plans to coach the Tennessee women's basketball team "as long as the good Lord is willing," despite recently being diagnosed with early-onset dementia.

"There's not going to be any pity party and I'll make sure of that," she told the Knoxville News Sentinel Monday evening. The News Sentinel and Washington Post first reported Summitt's condition.

Pat Summitt Pat Summitt once again finds herself fighting an uphill battle. But standing up when you most feel like falling down is the lesson she has been teaching her players all along, writes Mechelle Voepel. Story

In a statement from Summitt released by the university Tuesday, the Hall of Fame coach said she visited with doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., after the end of the 2010-11 basketball season and was diagnosed with the condition during the summer.

"I plan to continue to be your coach," Summitt said. "Obviously, I realize I may have some limitations with this condition since there will be some good days and some bad days."

The 59-year-old Summitt told the newspaper she had been feeling erratic earlier this year, and plans to rely on medication and mental exercises to manage the progressive condition that could lead to Alzheimer's, which her grandmother had.

"I just felt something was different," Summitt said in an interview with The Post's Sally Jenkins. "And at the time I didn't know what I was dealing with. Until I went to Mayo, I couldn't know for sure. But I can remember trying to coach and trying to figure out schemes and whatever and it just wasn't coming to me, like, I would typically say, 'We're gonna do this, and run that.' And it probably caused me to second-guess."

Tennessee athletic director Joan Cronan told The Associated Press that Summitt first thought her symptoms were side effects from medicine she was taking to treat rheumatoid arthritis. She said Summitt appears to be feeling better after starting treatment for the dementia condition and speaking publicly about it.

"She's ready to fight this and move on," Cronan said. "She had to come to grips with how she wanted to face it."

Pat SummittPat Summitt cuts down the net after Tennessee beat Stanford in 2008 for the Lady Vols' eighth NCAA title.

Summitt said longtime assistants Holly Warlick, Dean Lockwood and Mickie DeMoss will take on more responsibilities with the team going forward.

Summitt met with the Lady Volunteers Tuesday afternoon to discuss her diagnosis with them. Junior guard Taber Spani said the meeting was businesslike, with Summitt telling the Lady Vols nothing would get in the way this season of their quest for a ninth national title.

"More than anything, she just emphasized that she's our coach and that she wanted us to have complete confidence in her, and we do," Spani told the AP.

Summitt said she met with local doctors after becoming concerned about her health, and those physicians recommended she undergo a more extensive evaluation.

"Nobody accepts this," her son, Tyler, told the News Sentinel. "And there was anger. 'Why me?' was a question she asked more than once. But then, once she came to terms with it, she treated it like every other challenge she ever had, and is going to do everything she possibly can to keep her mind right and stay to coach."

As college basketball's winningest coach, Summitt has spent 37 seasons at Tennessee and has 1,071 career victories and eight national championships, but the Lady Vols have failed to reach the Final Four since they last won the national championship in 2008.

She also coached the United States to the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics, and won silver as a player in 1976.

"I think it's important to remember that while Pat is a basketball coach, the architect of one of the most storied programs in the history of our sport, she is also a mother, and she's a daughter, and she's a friend," Oklahoma women's basketball coach Sherri Coale said. "Pat's willingness to share this private battle speaks volumes about her strength and her character.

"She's modeled tenacity and endurance and optimism and faith for generations of athletes on the court. I know those athletes, we coaches, women's basketball fans, and sports fans in general will join in returning those gifts to her during this time of need."

Both UT-Knoxville chancellor Jimmy Cheek and Cronan pledged their support of Summitt's decision to continue coaching.

"Pat Summitt is our head coach and she will continue to be," Cronan said. "She is an icon not only for women's basketball but for all of women's athletics. For Pat to stand up and share her health news is just a continuing example of her courage.

"Life is an unknown and none of us have a crystal ball. But I do have a record of knowing what Pat Summitt stands for; excellence, strength, honesty and courage."

Former Tennessee men's coach Bruce Pearl said Summitt called him last night and left him a message, telling him the news. Pearl coached Summitt's son, a walk-on, last season.

"She's been incredibly supportive to me," Pearl told ESPN.com Tuesday. "I had a chance to work with her. I had a chance to coach her son. And we're friends for life."

"I was shocked and saddened to hear about the news regarding Pat Summitt's diagnosis," UConn coach Geno Auriemma, a longtime adversary, said Tuesday afternoon. "There is no doubt in my mind that Pat will take on this challenge as she has all others during her Hall of Fame career -- head-on. I wish her all the best."

Current Los Angeles Sparks star and former Lady Vol Candace Parker offered words of support through Twitter.

"Coach Summitt you never cease to amaze me with your strength and courage," Parker tweeted. "Whenever you face adversity you tackle it head on! True inspiration for me and one of the strongest women I know. I love you and we will handle this together as the Lady Vols always have, like FAMILY."

Summitt is the second widely known basketball coach to have a mental disorder of this nature. Former North Carolina men's basketball coach Dean Smith is battling what his family termed a "progressive neurocognitive disorder that affects his memory."

The 80-year old Hall of Fame coach has kept a relatively private existence recently, making only cameo appearances around the program.

Information from ESPN.com's Andy Katz and The Associated Press was used in this report.

Reallignment is wreaking havoc again. And the poor Big East looks like it's going to be decimated this time around. Syracuse and Pitt are off to the ACC, and UConn could be following them soon. It's a shame, but money and football rule the roost these days. Schools have to do what they gotta do.

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I agree with Jim. They are so money-hungry-stupid about TV and football they aren't really considering anything else. That, and of course every basketball conference has been jealous of the Big East since the expansion in 2005.

Being a Louisville fan, it'll be good for our football program if we wind up in the SEC (doubtful because of UK's veto power) or the Big 12. But, aside from that, nothing going there that excites me. I wish they'd just leave things alone. But, money talks.

I agree with Jim. They are so money-hungry-stupid about TV and football they aren't really considering anything else. That, and of course every basketball conference has been jealous of the Big East since the expansion in 2005.

Being a Louisville fan, it'll be good for our football program if we wind up in the SEC (doubtful because of UK's veto power) or the Big 12. But, aside from that, nothing going there that excites me. I wish they'd just leave things alone. But, money talks.

Boeheim said some more stuff that made a lot of sense. He basically said that leaving the Big East to go to the ACC is not as bad as it would have been years ago. Summed up, the Big East used to be so friggin cool when teams played each team twice, both home and away...real heated rivalries existed and people loved it. All the conferences are so bloated with so many teams now, what's the difference going to the ACC?Money talks unfortunately.The rivalries with Georgetown and Villanova and Connecticut...all gone. What a shame. Just a couple more years to enjoy the Big East.

The only problem is that the likely format (from what I'd guess) would be the ACC splitting into 2 divisions, North and South.Typically when that happens, North plays North twice (rivalries develop playing 2 reg. season games/year) and South would play South twice.Yeah, it would still be a huge game vs. either UNC or Duke, but damn...I guess I'm a traditionalist.Fuck! I can't even get used to the damn Angels calling themselves the Los Angeles Angels! It's sacrilege if you ask me! They are the California Angels dammit! The only Los Angeles team is the Los Angeles Dodgers!! Now all you damn kids get off my lawn!!!